9th Grade:150 Years of Free Climbing is an impressive reference book, that charts the varied and international history of modern climbing. It features a wealth of stunning images and in depth text that'll amaze and inspire any avid climber or mountaineer.
Published by Catherine Destivelle's publishing house, Les Editions du Mont-Blanc, this should be on all climbers bookshelves. It delves into many of the key personalities that have been pivotal in the sport, from Owen Glynn Jones, right through to current breed of leading edge climbers such as Adam Ondra and Tommy Caldwell.
It also explores the locations that have spawned the worlds greatest climbers such as Yosemite valley, the Peak district in the UK, the Alps and the Dolomites, as well as a chronological timeline of the keystone events and important first ascents that have shaped free climbing as it is today.
This is an amazing book, rich with history, amazing stories and profiles of some of the worlds most influential climbers from the last 150 years. It is a important reference source and one that any climber will not want to put down.
Catherine Destivelle, director of the ‘Montagne-Culture’ series, comments: THE 9th GRADE has no comparison in climbing literature. Like previous ‘Mountain Culture’ books, THE 9th GRADE has large scale illustrations which capture the theme of the writing with the intention of creating an essential reference about free-climbing.
There is something deeply primitive in mankind that fires the urge to explore, to search for the unknown whether it is beyond an horizon, over an ocean or, maybe, up a mountain. This desire, which includes rock faces, was possibly driven out of the necessity to search for food or minerals but, as modern society changed, so did the motive and-rock climbing came into being as a recreation using just body-strength and willpower.
This shift to a sport-like activity emerged towards the end of the 19th Century when those who would have been considered ‘crazy people’ risked life and limb on the seemingly worthless and futile pursuit of what we know as free-climbing be it on small boulders, outcrops and even great vertical mountain faces.
This book reflects on those women and men, famous or forgotten, whose lives have been possessed by their passion for the rock.